Trapezius Muscle Workouts Using a Pullup Bar

The pullup bar is not the best-suited piece of fitness equipment for training the trapezius muscle. The pullup exercise works the traps but only as secondary movers, and it only hits the lower and middle traps, neglecting the upper fibers of the muscle. If a pullup bar is the only equipment you have access to, you can create trap workouts using the bar, but you'll have to incorporate some unconventional exercises into your routines.

  1. Trap Anatomy

    • The trapezius is a large muscle of the back, located on each side of your spine. It is broken down into three areas, or fiber bundles, based on location and function. The upper fibers start at the base of your skull, run down your neck and then follow the path of your clavicle bone, attaching to the far end of the clavicle. The middle trap, a small triangular section of fibers, lies just below the upper fibers. It attaches to your lower cervical and upper thoracic vertebrae, extends across your upper back and comes to a point, attaching to your scapula, or shoulder blade. The lower fibers extend down your back, attaching to your thoracic spine from T4-T12.

    Trap Functions

    • The upper and middle fibers are involved in scapular elevation, lifting your shoulders toward your ears. The middle and lower fibers are involved in scapular adduction, pulling your shoulder blades together, and the lower fibers are involved in scapular depression, pulling your shoulder blades down.

    Trap Pullup Bar Exercises

    • To work the upper and middle fibers through scapular elevation, perform an inverted shrug. This movement is easier to perform on rings but possible to do on a pullup bar. Hold the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder-width grip
      and pull your legs up so they are above your torso and you are hanging upside down. From this position, pull your shoulder blades toward your ears. Keep your arms extended; do not bend your elbows.

      To work the middle and lower fibers through scapular adduction and depression, perform a hanging scapular retraction exercise. Hang from the pullup bar with your arms fully extended. Keep a slight bend in your elbows and lock them in this position. Pull your shoulder blades together and down. This will move your body ever so slightly up toward the bar.

    Trap Workouts

    • The inverted shrug and hanging scapular raise target the three areas of the traps as primary movers and you can create basic trap workouts around these two exercises. Complete two to three sets, eight to 12 repetitions, of each exercise. However, it is difficult to progressively overload your muscles with these body-weight exercises. You can add external resistance, but it is difficult, especially hanging upside down during the inverted shrug. Ideally, you should incorporate these two unconventional exercises into a more complete trap and back routine that includes weighted shrugs, rows, pullovers and pulldowns.